1. Field of the Invention
An impact attenuating chin protector for use with athletic helmets such as football helmets to both protect the wearer and secure the helmet to the wearer's head.
2. Background of the Invention
Most athletic helmets are outfitted with a chin strap to secure the helmet to the wearer's head. For certain sports, it is necessary to protect the wearer from impact to the head, and more specifically to protect the chin of the wearer. Sports such as football and ice hockey involve collisions and blows to the head and face of the wearer. For these sports, a mere chin strap is not enough protection. Typically, for contact sports, a padded chin protector has been added to the chin strap to protect the wearer. Football in particular involves impact to the wearer's head that requires serious protection.
Football helmets have typically been provided with some sort of cushioned chin cup attached to the chin straps. Conventional chin cups are designed to be close fitting and are usually cushioned to lessen the shock of an impact to the wearer's chin. Chin cups generally include an outer shell having a concave shape to cradle a wearer's chin. The cushioning material is either suspended from the chin straps or attached to the outer, more rigid shell. The cushioning material is generally uniform through the cup with some provision in the prior art for ventilation. Some prior art chin cups also include a fabric liner for the face-contacting surface for comfort.
The outer shells of conventional chin cups are shaped to cradle and protect the chin when impacted. The strength of the outer shell has been improved with more advanced materials. Aside from advances in the choice of materials, the focus of the outer shell design has typically been to withstand impact forces. An opportunity to attenuate the impact is lost unless the outer shell is designed to deflect and thereby dissipate the forces from the impact.
One of the drawbacks of conventional chin cups is that even if they are cushioned, there is little consideration for the anatomy of the face and chin in their design. For high impact activities such as football in particular, it is as important to cushion the head as it is to attenuate the force of the collision or blow. Conventional chin cups are not designed to direct or channel the force of the collision. Cushioning can help absorb some of the impact, but there has been a lack of attention in prior designs with avoiding direct impact to certain sensitive areas of the wearer's face
Another drawback of conventional chin cups is a matter of comfort. Small pinholes in a cushioning member or plastic member as has been used in conventional chin cups do not provide sufficient ventilation to the wearer's face. Without proper ventilation and wicking of perspiration, the chin cup can become wet and prone to slipping resulting in a dangerous situation. In addition, the contact between the chin cups and the face can become a source of irritation when the contact area involves a large surface area.